Contents

Overview

Fireballs travel a short distance, and deal minor damage and flinching common to fire-based attacks. The trajectory of Fireballs can be changed depending on the surface's angle upon contact, though this differs between the users. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Fireball loses power the further it travels from the user.

Mario's Fireballs are red, and affected by gravity, bouncing along the ground and losing momentum with each successive bounce. If used against an upward slope or wall, it will rebound, and if used from a higher elevation or while airborne, it will travel a further distance and last longer due to not immediately connecting with the ground upon initiating.

Mario's Fireball is a decent defensive move, as Mario can take advantage of the terrain to launch Fireballs from higher points or rebound them off walls, granting protection from behind and below, and its bouncing physics make it useful for intercepting in two directions. However, it does possess moderate startup and end lag, making it difficult to spam, and it possesses a short duration.

Luigi's Fireballs are green, and travel through the air in a straight line, unaffected by gravity. If used against an upward slope or wall, the Fireball's path will change to travel upwards. Luigi's Fireballs can be fired at a faster pace than Mario's.

Luigi's Fireball is a more difficult move to approach due to its floaty physics, which make it a fairly linear projectile and a difficult attack to use against opponents who are at a different elevation from Luigi. To compensate, it is a better projectile for spamming due to its longer duration and faster pace, which is further increased in the Negative Zone.

Custom Variations

Mario

Fast Fireball

Fast Fireball is one of Mario's Neutral Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Mario throws a faster, slightly weaker fireball straight ahead at a longer range.

Strengths:

Faster movement and firing rate

Horizontal movement pattern

More range

Weaknesses:

Cannot attack grounded opponents from the air

Deals slightly less damage

Due to its fast speed and firing rate, the Fast Fireball can quickly be used in rapid succession on an opponent to rack up damage quickly; the Fast Fireball deals less damage than the default Fireball but is able to put more damage on an opponent in a smaller amount of time. It moves horizontally rather than bouncing across the ground and as such will not fall down when used in the air; this can make it useful for integrating into aerial combos or edge-guarding opponents recovering higher, but Mario is also unable to drop the fireballs on opponents from above since they are not affected by gravity.

Fire Orb

Fire Orb is one of Mario's Neutral Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Mario throws a larger Fireball that travels a short distance and slowly, but hits repeatedly and lasts longer.

Strengths:

Deals more damage

Obstacle on stage

Stays on-stage for a while

Larger size

Weaknesses:

Slow movement

Slow execution

Less range

The Fire Orb, despite its severely decreased speed, range, and firing rate, can be quite useful when used effectively. Since it is large in size, it can be difficult for an opponent to maneuver around the projectile especially if Mario camps near it, attacking the opponent when they try to roll or jump around the fire orb. The orb stays on-stage for a long while, so Mario can put a fire orb out on stage and create an obstacle on the stage for the opponent. It deals more damage and can hit the opponent multiple times before vanishing, so Mario can throw opponents into it or place it near the edge to hit recovering opponents away from the stage.

Luigi

Bouncing Fireball

Bouncing Fireball is one of Luigi's Neutral Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Luigi launches a fireball that bounces on the ground like Mario's.

Strengths:

Forces opponents into air.

Can attack grounded opponents from the air.

Has gimping/edge-guard ability.

Greater range.

Weaknesses:

Deals less damage the farther it goes out.

The Bouncing Fireball grants more versatility than the default neutral special for Luigi. Since gravity takes effect on the move, it can be used for gimping and edge-guarding opponents trying to recover low. On-stage, the move can force opponents to go into the air which can set up some aerial combos. Unlike the default Fireball that only moves forwards both in the air and ground, the Bouncing Fireball will fall in the air, so Luigi can attack opponents from above with this move. The move loses power the farther it gets from its origin point, so spacing the attack correctly can be helpful when trying to get the most damage out of it.

Iceball

Iceball is one of Luigi's Neutral Special Moves that can be used via customizations. Luigi launches a frozen ball that freezes opponents upon contact.

Strengths:

Freezes opponents.

Fast firing rate.

More range.

Weaknesses:

Only freezes above certain percents.

Moves slowly.

The Iceball has a good firing rate, and covers more distance than the regular, but the projectile itself is quite slow. However, it can freeze opponents above a certain percent, though they vary between characters, so it is not always certain. Overall, the move's freezing ability can set up some good combos but Iceball is slow and the likelihood of hitting an opponent is unreliable.

Origin

Fireballs have become a common staple in the Mario series, with their first debut being in Super Mario Bros. Mario and Luigi can summon fireballs with the aid of a Fire Flower which will instantly defeat any common enemy, though they all are affected by gravity.

Mario's Custom Move Fire Orb is based off a similar attack used by Mario in Super Mario RPG, with the attack having a similar appearance. Luigi's Iceball is directly based off the attack used by Mario and Luigi after absorbing an Ice Flower (the counterpart to the Fire Flower), with their first appearance being New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Trivia

Fireball in Super Smash Bros. shows an instance of Mario and Luigi being capable of using the attack without the aid of a Fire Flower.

Mario's use of Fireball may allude to his affinity with fire, as shown in Super Mario RPG

The Fire Flower appears as an item in all four Super Smash Bros. games, and their Fire Flower costumes are available as palette swaps in Brawl and SSBWU/3DS.

In the original Super Smash Bros., Mario and Luigi would share the same animation of shooting a Fireball by pushing it outwards with their right hand. From Melee onward the animation for Fireball changed: Mario would draw back his left hand before palming forward the fireball, and Luigi would gesture with a finger snap and launch the fireball.

If Kirby copies Mario's Fireball, it has an even shorter duration due to Kirby launching it closer to the ground, though it bounces higher, making it possible to connect with opponents vertically.